Great Lakes Book Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2003 Great Lakes Book Awards were recently announced by the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA).

The winners are: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar Straus & Giroux and Picador USA) for Fiction; To Conquer the Air by James Tobin (The Free Press) in the General category; and Girl Wonder by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Rich Widener (Atheneum) for Children’s Literature.

The awards, which recognize excellence in the writing and publishing of books that capture the spirit and enhance awareness of the Great Lakes region, will be presented at a luncheon on Friday, October 3, during the GLBA Fall Trade Show in Dearborn, Michigan. The winners will receive $500 and an award designed and produced by Pewabic Pottery. To be eligible for the awards, books needed to have a Great Lakes theme or setting.

The other finalists for this year’s awards were:

Children's Literature
A Pitch in Time by Robert A. Lytle (Edco Publishing); Gina Jamie Father Bear by George Ella Lyon (Simon & Schuster Children's); Jam & Jelly by Holly & Nellie by Gloria Whelan, illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (Sleeping Bear Press); Legend of Leelanau by Kathy-jo Wargin, illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (Sleeping Bear Press); Look About You by Erin Anderson, illustrated by Mary Fuscaldo (Rimwalk Press).

Fiction
Blue Wolf in Green Fire by Joseph Heywood (Globe Pequot Press); Dying Embers by Robert Bailey (M. Evans and Company, Inc.); Ohio Salt by Frank Dupuy (Smith Publicity); Q Road by Bonnie Jo Campbell (Simon & Schuster Inc.); Rainbow's End by Bob Adamov (Packard Island Publishing); Roofwalker by Susan Power (Milkweed Editions); Signs and Wonders by Philip Gulley (HarperSanFrancisco).

General
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Random House, Inc.); Indian Summer by Brian McDonald (Rodale Books); Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis (Holtzbrinck Publishers); Voelker's Pond by James McCullough, photographs by Ed Wargin (Clock Tower Press); Walk on Water by Michael Ruhlman (Penguin Group USA Inc.); Wheels for the World by Douglas Brinkley (Penguin Group USA Inc.).